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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Paz, what philosophical fact defines much of Mexico's history?
(a) They had only two great thinkers.
(b) They overturned several of Spain's philosophical treatises.
(c) The people adopted some ideas and invented others.
(d) The people adopted ideas, but did not invent their own.

2. Why was Diaz's regime in a precarious position regarding positivist philosophy?
(a) Because the common people vehemently opposed the philosophy.
(b) Because it adopted rather than fathered the philosophy.
(c) Because only about half the regime favored the philosophy.
(d) Because it could not afford to support such a philosophy when the regime itself was so new.

3. According to Paz, why did the Revolution become a compromise?
(a) The Revolution's worldview synthesized too many elements.
(b) Because the extremists were a minority.
(c) It could not synthesize Mexican tradition with the desire for universality.
(d) Its leader was not strong enough to carry their ideals forward.

4. What important circumstance did early revolutionary governments not take into account?
(a) Population growth.
(b) Natural resources.
(c) Expansion of cities.
(d) Desertion of rural areas.

5. What did positivism do with the ideals of the Reformation?
(a) Blurred them into vague, utopian dreams.
(b) Made them irrelevant to Mexican life and culture.
(c) Pushed them into the background.
(d) Made them reality.

6. What did Manuel Gomez-Morin accomplish for the Revolution?
(a) He formulated the property laws.
(b) He led the greatest contingent of soldiers.
(c) He helped draft the new Constitution.
(d) He wrote the Plan of Ayala.

7. According to Paz, what is the "contemporary crisis"? (Chapter Seven, page 172).
(a) The struggle between two diverse cultures.
(b) The crisis of self-identity sweeping South America.
(c) The difficulty of Mexico relating to the advancing western world.
(d) A struggle within a culture that no longer has any rivals.

8. What does Paz mean by the word, "community"?
(a) A place of liberty where men recognize themselves in each other.
(b) A gathering of people who are invested in each other.
(c) A place of stable government and economy.
(d) A place of safety, especially for women and children.

9. Why did the Mexican Revolution have to begin before the beginning?
(a) The people still held a feudalistic mindset.
(b) Mexico did not have the basic electricity and resources needed to transform her cities.
(c) In the early 20th Century, Mexico was far behind the advanced world.
(d) The cities were not large enough to house the farmers-turned-workers.

10. How did the Independence movement begin in South America?
(a) With simultaneous victories sweeping the continent.
(b) With Mexican housewives gradually overturning the governing body.
(c) Under the leadership of impassioned leader, San Martin.
(d) With a small band of determined revolutionaries.

11. During the Revolution, whom did the intelligentsia make the focal point of its activities?
(a) Itself.
(b) Their new leaders.
(c) The common people.
(d) The new poets.

12. Mexico lacks basic industries except for one - what is it?
(a) Steel.
(b) Wool.
(c) Fishing.
(d) Forestry.

13. Why is a study of colonialism important in understanding Mexican history?
(a) The nation was founded by a Spanish conquest of Indians.
(b) The nation was founded through a peaceful Spanish immersion into Indian culture.
(c) The nation's beginnings were heavily influenced by North Americans.
(d) The nation began through the colonization of several surrounding nations.

14. What did Moctezuma think as the Spaniards approached?
(a) That was the time to prove his manliness.
(b) That was the moment of his deliverance.
(c) He would finally become Divine.
(d) The gods had abandoned him.

15. Where have the great revolutions of the 20th Century occurred?
(a) In large, wealthy countries.
(b) In backward countries.
(c) In places with little modern culture.
(d) Among indigenous tribes.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the Revolution force the Mexican people to do?

2. Which of the following contributed to making colonialism alive and relevant?

3. What is one factor that drives world markets?

4. How does the Indian perceive salvation? (Chapter Five).

5. In Paz's philosophy, why must Mexicans face reality alone?

(see the answer keys)

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